Film and Sheikh Jewelry

Julia Vorst writes:

Women’s dresses were long straight and slim-fitting in the 1920s, forming the perfect foil for very long necklaces. Earrings were often abandoned by the most fashionable, who favored emancipated bobbed hairstyles. Long strings of beads, ending in a tassel effect or a knot, were worn by rich and poor and have survived in some number, as they were made of every material, from lapis lazuli and diamonds to glass and forms of early plastic. The sautoir symbolized the 1920s and was sometimes made of a twisted rope of pearls, silk threads, ivory or paste. Sometimes silk-covered beads gave a more opulent effect, or wood, glass and ceramic might be mixed. At the top end of the market were complex designs, often with flat links set with diamonds centered with a pendant in a harmonized design. Relatively few diamond examples have survived, as many were shortened in the late 1930s and 50s as fashions changed

The popularity of everything Egyptian in the 1920s, following the discovery of the tomb of Tutenkamen, inspired quantities of green and black glass jewelry in imitation of jade, as well as imitation ivory and lapis lazuli. The film “The Sheikh” made Rudolph Valentino famous, inspiring harem pants, jeweled turbans and exotic jewelry, usually manufactured from cheap materials. Some sautoirs are surprisingly long and were presumably intended to be wound around the neck at least once. Glass versions are often found and can cost as little as $15 (£10). It is often the cheaper glass versions that have survived, as those of Murano (Venetian) glass were often re-strung into short necklaces in the 1950s.The illustrated sautoir of ceramic beads has a pendant head of Valentino. The strings of beads imitate lapis lazuli, ivory and gold. It has a dual appeal in being film related and an evocative period piece, though the basic materials are cheap. This type of jewelry varies considerably in price between fashionable and provincial sellers or those specializing in film related pieces. The average price for such a piece would be between $45 -$60 (£30 - £40).

More info @ www.collectorcafe.com

Collecting Costume or Paste Jewelry

Mel Lewis writes:

Paste or costume jewelry can be confused with the real thing. But being fake doesn't betoken second best or even a cut price collectable. There is a respectable history to costume jewelry, which has tempted hallowed fashion names from this century, such as Chanel, Schiaparelli and Trifari, to try their hand. The craft of faking jewelry dates to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who adored glass beads that simulated gems. Rock crystals in the limestone at Clifton, Bristol, were made into 'diamonds', while Cornish tin mines yielded crystals with convincing sparkle and impressive adamantine qualities. But it took till the 1670s for George Ravenscroft to perfect flint glass hard and clear enough to really give diamonds a run for their money. Strasbourg jeweler George-Frederic Strass established himself in Paris from 1724 and went on to develop glass that could be facet cut, polished and colored vividly enough to rival the brilliancy and drama of genuine stones. Calibre cutting - shaping paste stones to fit a mount, a feat impossible with real gems - is another desirable feature of 18th century paste work. "A good Georgian suite can sell for thousands of pounds," says expert Sally Everitt, though basic early twentieth century work can be bought from £10 ($16). Fact: antique paste jewelry frequently sells alongside genuine gold, silver and gem set jewelry at auction!

Collectors in search of genuine Georgian pieces should look for a closed setting and an egg shape or rounded back. The stone was backed with silver or gold foil, to enhance the inferior light-reflecting properties of glass, as compared with diamond. Early - 18th century - paste was set in precious metal mounts. Some Victorian work features gold mounts, to prevent marking of skin and clothes, but thereafter base metal became the norm. However ... in WWII metals deemed essential to the war effort (for turning into guns and bullets) were banned from use in fripperies such as jewelry. Ironically, silver became the patriotically acceptable substitute.Base metal won't bend, so broken pieces, being unrepairable were usually junked. But silver-set paste can be reworked and is therefore still around in quantity. Most of these 1940s' silver pieces were made in the USA, are not hall marked, but do carry a "STERLING" stamp. This is no purist pursuit, however: even "bastardised" jewelry can make the grade with collectors - if the bowdlerised "bits" are merit worthy enough, and include, say, gem set butterfly, flower or leaf Art Nouveau design elements from belt buckles ... or broken-up shoe buckles from the Deco years (1922-30). The later may well contain genuine amethyst or aquamarine highlights, as an added bonus. Never assume that jewelry bought cheap, or with an unpromising pedigree, is paste. Real diamonds have a peculiar soapy texture. If you are unsure whether items is paste or real get a professional opinion.

More info @ www.collectorcafe.com

Briza

Idexonline writes:

Diamond color enhancing firm Briza, recently unveiled their latest creation – pine colored diamonds – in Ramat Gan, Israel. The company enhances the color of natural diamonds using an electronic beam and high temperatures.

Briza enhance the color of a diamond, but to do so the diamond has to have specific color properties – the minerals that affect the diamonds color – in it to start with. “We are accelerating the natural process,” said Briza’s Lior and Shai Barak.

“If the diamond wasn’t mined, and the conditions, such as temperature, were right, in a few million years these colors would have appeared in the diamonds,” they said.

The company uses their technique to create 14 different colors including blue, green, yellow, gold, and black.

These fancy color diamonds are marked in EGL certificates as color enhanced. To further underline the process, the company inscribes the color hue names on the girdle.

More info @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullMazalUbracha.asp?id=26587

Best Business Books of 2006

Fast Company writes:

1. The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman

2. Company by Max Barry

3. Who Moved My Blackberry by Lucy Kellaway

4. Apex Hides The Hurt by Colson Whitehead

5. The Change Function by Pip Coburn

6. Management by Baseball by Jeff Angus

7. Alpha Male Syndrome by Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson

8. The New American Workplace by James O’Toole and Edward E Lawler III

9. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

10. Setting The Table by Danny Meyer

11. The Immortal Game by David Shenk

12. Purpose by Nikos Mourkogiannis

More info @ http://www.fastcompany.com

Trade Journals relating To Watch & Jewelry Industry

I found the following links educational + informative.

Diamond World
Diamonds & Gold of Russia
Europa Star
GM Watch
GMT Magazine
GZ
Heure Suisse/Schweiz
HKJE Magazine
Hong Kong Jewellery
hr:Watches
IDEX Magazine
Instore
InSync
International Watch (iW - Chinese Edition)
iW - International Watch
iW M.E. (International Watch Middle East)

Diamond Prices

John Bowker writes:

Diamond prices are set to rise in 2007 as global supply falls significantly below demand, Firestone Diamonds Plc, Chief Executive Philip Kenny said on Monday.

Kenny told Reuters that an imbalance had been created by diminishing stock-piles at the world's biggest producer De Beers, coupled with a shortage of new mines coming on stream. That will mean that prices would have to rise next year, despite a softening of prices in 2006, he said. "There is a broad consensus that there will be a shortfall in supply (in 2007)," he said in a telephone interview. "In recent years the shortfall was made up by De Beers selling down stockpiles, but now they are just selling what they mine." He added that there were no major mines about to come into production, partly as it has been seen as a major challenge in recent years to build a mine able to make a decent return. "It's very difficult to find an economically viable diamond mine, and a lot of suitable locations are climatically or politically difficult places to work -- like Angola or Northern Russia," Kenny said.

More info @ http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-12-18T132510Z_01_L18741817_RTRUKOC_0_US-FIRESTONE-DIAMONDPRICES.xml&WTmodLoc=EntNewsTheatre_R3_reutersEdge-2

Global Jewelry Sales

National Jeweler Network writes:

Worldwide jewelry sales will grow 4.6 percent per year to reach $185 billion in 2010 and $230 billion in 2015, according to a new report by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India and KPMG.

"The Global Gems and Jewellery Industry: Vision 2015: Transforming for Growth" finds that gold and diamond jewelry will continue to dominate the industry, with about 82 percent of the market, and that palladium will grow in importance. Diamonds will represent the slowest growing segment of the industry, with a compound annual growth rate of about 3.3 percent.

The report also finds that India and China together will emerge as a market equivalent to the U.S. market by 2015. Further, India's share of the diamond-processing industry will drop from 57 percent today to around 49 percent in 2015, while China will control 21.3 percent of the diamond-processing industry by that time.

Jewelry as an industry will lag behind other luxury goods categories such as watches, perfume and apparel, the report states.In addition, to reach its potential, the jewelry industry must concentrate on the growing demand for jewelry and strengthen industry-level and enterprise-level capabilities within the next year and a half.

"Transformation is necessary for growth," Neelesh Hundekari, director of advisory services for KPMG India, said in a statement. "The industry has the potential to successfully compete against the luxury goods industry and preserve its traditional domination of the consumer's discretionary spend. The industry needs to defend jewelry as a category and explore newer markets, while professionalizing family businesses."

More info @ http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/independent/e3i631d13dcd8dc0bc4fe4cc6a082e13b15

Romancing The Stone: Precious Tips

Holly Hubbard Preston ( International Herald Tribune ) writes:

Investors thinking about parking part of their portfolio in gemstones will spend as much time doing due diligence as they would for any other asset category, maybe even more.

That is the opinion of former securities executive turned avid gem collector. The collector, who requested anonymity, readily admitted to spending two years doing research before eh could work up the courage to make his first major purchase, a $75000 stone. His portfolio is now valued at more than $1 million.

Gemstones are a complicated investment play. With that in mind, Lisa Hubbard, executive director for international jewelry sales at Sotheby’s, offered this emphatic advice to would-be gemstone investors: ‘If you are talking about investing, you have no business dealing in anything other than the best level that you can afford.’

Even the most beautiful Thai rubies, for example will generally not command the per-carat price at auction that a much rarer Burma ruby will. The same goes for an African emerald compared with one from Colombia, consistently the source of the world’s finest emeralds. Even within those guidelines, identifying the best can be an immense challenge.

Color, particularly natural color, is the key. According to Antoinette Matlins, a gemologist in Vermont, natural colored gemstones and natural fancy-colored diamonds are ‘most prized’ among collectors and offer the best long-term values. Matlins estimated that natural, untreated colored gems are worth 10 percent to 20 percent more than precious stones that have been treated or whose color has otherwise been enhanced.

That differential, she added, is ‘nowhere near’ what she thinks it will be in another five to ten years. Since the 1960s, Matlins said, the gem trade has been trying to keep up with demand for precious stones by taking lesser gems and exposing them to heat and other treatments that would brighten or even change their color while removing inclusions that affect clarity. Until about five years ago, she said, these treatments often were not disclosed. With attention and demand shifting to natural or untreated colored stones, Matlins said, it is more important than ever to have a stone thoroughly evaluated before making a purchase.

Cap Beesley, president of American Gemological Laboratory in New York, said that more often that not, clients come to him for evaluations after they have parted with their money, sometimes more of it than they should have. He advises would-be investors to always ask to have a stone sent to a lab of their choice before making a purchase. If the dealer or supplier balks at this, Beesley said, a buyer should suspect the quality of the stone. The cost of lab evaluations at American Gemological ranges from $75 for a basic identification to $185 for a full grading report.

An example of a detailed, color-grading report can be found in The Gemstone Forecaster, an online gemstone trade journal that is published by Robert Genis (http://www.preciousgemstones.com/). A sample report from Beesley’s lab, with an explanation of how to decipher it, is featured on the site.

But whether you should buy gemstones at all depends on how you perceive their value, said Denny Cummings, a wealthy management adviser at Merrill Lynch in Chicago. ‘You first have to determine what you hope to achieve by investing in gemstones,’ he said. ‘Enjoyment of owning the stones should be a significant part of your motivation, since they don’t provide current income and may or may not enjoy price appreciation.’

‘Even if they do appreciate, the spread between the bid and ask price is often a problem,’ he said.

‘Unlike stocks, where you have an efficient high-volume market where the spread is rather narrow, the spread can be much wider with hard assets like gemstones.’ Given these dynamics, he warned, someone buying gemstones as a hedge against inflation could end up buying high and being forced to sell low.

More info @ http://www.iht.com